Daniel Norris keeps spot with Tigers, though not in rotation

Free Press sports writers Anthony Fenech and George Sipple give their thoughts on the first few games of the Detroti Tigers' 2018 season from Comerica Park.

942775256.jpg CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 05: Daniel Norris #44 of the Detroit Tigers pitches against the Chicago White Sox during the Opening Day home game at Guaranteed Rate Field on April 5, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. The Tigers defeated the White Sox 9-7 in 10 innings.(Photo: Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images)

Such is the simple version of the Detroit Tigers’ somewhat surprising decision to keep the young left-hander in the big leagues. But with the way he pitched in relief on Thursday afternoon, and with some uncertainty still on the horizon, maybe the move wasn’t so surprising at all.

With righthander Mike Fiers set to be activated from the 10-day disabled list on Sunday afternoon to start against the Chicago White Sox, the Tigers optioned reliever Warwick Saupold to Triple-A Toledo, keeping Norris around for now.

“He’s stretched out a little bit, he can give us multiple innings,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “You saw what he did the other night and we’re going to need that right now.”

There is a question as to how long Fiers can go in his first start of the season, especially pitching in the cold weather forecast for Sunday. Looking a little bit further down the road, Norris — who remains a starting pitcher in the team’s plans — can further develop against major-league hitters and build his pitch count to a point where — when an inevitable injury hits the starting rotation — he can step in.

“He’s a starter,” Gardenhire said. “He’s not a bullpen guy. But the thing we’re talking about right now is we can give him innings up here with some of the situations you have early in the year and you’re only going with 12 pitchers. You need length and we’ve got him and (Alex Wilson) to protect us in those parts of the game now. But he needs to pitch. I’m not going to have him sitting up here not doing anything.”

“If we’re going to keep him up here, which I told Al, then we’re going to pitch him,” Gardenhire said. “He’s going to get his innings and he’s going to get extended pitches. That’s just the way it’s gotta be with this kid staying up here.

“Something had to happen here and we talked a lot of different ways about it and in talking to Al, he thinks this is the right way to go right now, and I’m on board with it. Like I said, the one thing I know for sure is we need starters in this organization and he’s going to be one of them so we’ll keep him up here for a little while. But if he’s not getting his work — we’ve talked about this — we’ll get him back down and let him start and get lengthened out even more. But I think we can get him some innings up here. I know we will.”

Norris was excellent in relief on Thursday, pitching 3 1/3 innings. He struck out six batters, walked two and allowed one run on one hit over 49 pitches.

The goal, Gardenhire said, is to keep Norris’ pitch count steady — perhaps even adding to it as the days go along — so he is not far away from a starting pitcher’s workload if a need hits. Keeping Norris around also gives Gardenhire a second lefty in the bullpen.

The Tigers are acknowledging that he is one of their 12 best pitchers and feel there are more positives than negatives in keeping him with the team.

Still, Gardenhire — who has said staunchly in the past that the Tigers need Norris in the rotation — knows he must get enough innings for this move to be worthwhile.

“There was pros and cons both ways, believe me,” he said. “I’m a little bit nervous about it just for the fact that I know how much starting pitching we need and he’s one of them. But we talked this thing through and decided this is the way to go right now.”